Teamsters See UPS Package Contract Headed for Approval
The Teamsters union said that the master contract for its UPS Inc. package workers appears headed for rank-and-file approval, and that talks will resume with the package carrier to resolve issues that were rejected in side agreements.
The announcement follows the separate rejection of a UPS Freight contract by Teamsters locals. UPS Freight Teamsters local members rejected a tentative agreement by more than a 2-to-1 margin for workers at the company’s less-than-truckload unit.
UPS and the Teamsters reached tentative five-year contracts in April. The current package and freight contracts expire July 31.
“Some of the supplemental agreements covering specific local issues have not been approved,” the union’s e-mailed statement said, adding that it will “schedule meetings to engage the company in further negotiations.”
More than 235,000 package division workers were eligible to vote on the tentative agreement finalized in April to replace the one expires next month. The vote count began Friday and is expected to end Wednesday.
The package contract offered wage increases totaling $3.90 per hour and did not increase most health care costs.
“A provision that moves 140,000 members from a company-sponsored health insurance plan into a plan that is jointly trusteed by employers and [union] contributed to some of the supplements being rejected,” the Teamsters said.
The nixed LTL contract by union locals was the first-ever rejection of a UPS Freight deal. The first UPS Freight-Teamsters contract was approved in 2008.
April’s tentative deal offered a $2.50 total wage increase over a five-year span starting Aug. 1.
